Bundesliga review part 2. the new one :)

[Rotweiss]

Good to see a few of you boys have emerged from your bunkers to wave the white flag ;-)

Hehe, I wouldn't call it waving the white flag. Just giving credit where it's due. :P

 

[bayern blade]

Leverkusen once again go and get a great result. I say it every week, but they are doing unbelievably well considering the quality of personnel. 6 points clear of Dortmund and now through to the last 16. Did not watch the game so can not comment more than that.

Bayern were sloppy today, but I think it's more worrying about the way Guardiola set up the team. He played a midfield 3 of Kroos, Thiago and Goetze. A lack of steel and defensive ability in midfield. Then he pushed Lahm and Alaba too far up leaving the defence exposed. The same thing happened against City in the friendly, Dortmund, Chelsea and again today. They were lucky they played a weak Dortmund in the league or else the same thing could have happened again. Lahm due to lack of playing team at right back looked poor today. Thiago was invisible for the entire game and should have come off. Gotze was not very good either.

I don't see Bayern beating Madrid and if they play City I would have them as favourites. Chelsea and Barcelona have a good chance as well.

One defeat in god knows how many games is not the end of the world, we had to lose sooner or later, everybody does. Congratulations to City of course but we are no worse this morning than we were last week, sh#t happens you know that as well as we do.
Nobody wants to lose any game but if we had to I'd rather lose a game where we have already qualified than lose in the league or get knocked out of a cup.
Funnily enough Pep said in yesterday's Bild "If we play like we trained today (Monday) we will lose". If we have one failing that needs looking at it is losing concentration when the work seems to have been done, the arsenal home leg last season is a case in point.
I would certainly not be hitting the panic button if we draw Barcelona, Madrid or City again later in the competition. They are all good sides but we are capable of beating anyone, a lot would depend on both sides form on the day.

 

[BayernMan]

Boateng has extended his stay at Bayern Munich till 2018!

 

[Dzeko's Right Boot]

Boateng has extended his stay at Bayern Munich till 2018!

Has he been criticised at all by the press in Germany for his mistake yesterday? After that and getting sent off at Eastlands, I can't help wondering whether he is still on the payroll here or something...

 

[Ruhr]

there is a german tv station that has no tv rights for CL. So they sit in football pub in the city of Essen, former Bayern player Thomas Helmer and some pundits, watch the match on tv and tell the viewers what is going on (saw this kind of show in the 90s on italian tv and thought, wtf is that?).

They all were unable to explain, what Boateng did in that scene, so a former HSV player (Stefan Schnoor) tried to imitate it on the pub floor. Big laugh

 

[supercrystal7]

Leverkusen once again go and get a great result. I say it every week, but they are doing unbelievably well considering the quality of personnel. 6 points clear of Dortmund and now through to the last 16. Did not watch the game so can not comment more than that.

Bayern were sloppy today, but I think it's more worrying about the way Guardiola set up the team. He played a midfield 3 of Kroos, Thiago and Goetze. A lack of steel and defensive ability in midfield. Then he pushed Lahm and Alaba too far up leaving the defence exposed. The same thing happened against City in the friendly, Dortmund, Chelsea and again today. They were lucky they played a weak Dortmund in the league or else the same thing could have happened again. Lahm due to lack of playing team at right back looked poor today. Thiago was invisible for the entire game and should have come off. Gotze was not very good either.

I don't see Bayern beating Madrid and if they play City I would have them as favourites. Chelsea and Barcelona have a good chance as well.

One defeat in god knows how many games is not the end of the world, we had to lose sooner or later, everybody does. Congratulations to City of course but we are no worse this morning than we were last week, sh#t happens you know that as well as we do.
Nobody wants to lose any game but if we had to I'd rather lose a game where we have already qualified than lose in the league or get knocked out of a cup.
Funnily enough Pep said in yesterday's Bild "If we play like we trained today (Monday) we will lose". If we have one failing that needs looking at it is losing concentration when the work seems to have been done, the arsenal home leg last season is a case in point.
I would certainly not be hitting the panic button if we draw Barcelona, Madrid or City again later in the competition. They are all good sides but we are capable of beating anyone, a lot would depend on both sides form on the day.

It's not the manner of the defeat that is the cause of concern. Last season when you lost to Bate, it was overlooked by most as a fluke result. When you lost to Arsenal there were concerns raised about your mental strength. There was never any question about the tactics, the set up of strength of the team. The team was brilliantly balanced and the best club side for the last 30 years.

Yesterday was different and not only was there complacency, but there was big problems with the formation and the balance of the team. Bayern have been giving far too many chances to all their opponents and apart from City at the Etihad have been luck to win all of them. Even CSK Moscow had great chances to equalises and go in front.

It's the case of the Emperor's New Clothes as I said. Everybody can see Guardiola's follies, but they pretend not too, because of his record ignoring he was the one that tactically destroyed the Barcelona team. He is doing the same to Dortmund and playing favourites with Thiago.

In the end it turned out to be a good group stage for the German sides. Dortmund and Bayern topped their group and Schalke and Leverkusen managed to come in second.

Dortmund got very lucky with referee decisions today. I don't think it was a sending off, but after the red card they had numerous chances, which they proceeded to blow. Lewandowski and Reus the worst culprits. GrossKreutz was MOTM and scored the decisive goal. Reus was not fit and showed, MKhitaryan was poor, Lewandowski good except his finishing as usual and Weidenfeller has been awful this season.

 

[mcmanus]

Leverkusen once again go and get a great result. I say it every week, but they are doing unbelievably well considering the quality of personnel. 6 points clear of Dortmund and now through to the last 16. Did not watch the game so can not comment more than that.

Bayern were sloppy today, but I think it's more worrying about the way Guardiola set up the team. He played a midfield 3 of Kroos, Thiago and Goetze. A lack of steel and defensive ability in midfield. Then he pushed Lahm and Alaba too far up leaving the defence exposed. The same thing happened against City in the friendly, Dortmund, Chelsea and again today. They were lucky they played a weak Dortmund in the league or else the same thing could have happened again. Lahm due to lack of playing team at right back looked poor today. Thiago was invisible for the entire game and should have come off. Gotze was not very good either.

I don't see Bayern beating Madrid and if they play City I would have them as favourites. Chelsea and Barcelona have a good chance as well.

One defeat in god knows how many games is not the end of the world, we had to lose sooner or later, everybody does. Congratulations to City of course but we are no worse this morning than we were last week, sh#t happens you know that as well as we do.
Nobody wants to lose any game but if we had to I'd rather lose a game where we have already qualified than lose in the league or get knocked out of a cup.
Funnily enough Pep said in yesterday's Bild "If we play like we trained today (Monday) we will lose". If we have one failing that needs looking at it is losing concentration when the work seems to have been done, the arsenal home leg last season is a case in point.
I would certainly not be hitting the panic button if we draw Barcelona, Madrid or City again later in the competition. They are all good sides but we are capable of beating anyone, a lot would depend on both sides form on the day.

Fair enough for posting after a defeat. Kudos for that.

Understand we are cockahoop because we don't get to play in matches like that often never mind winning one.

God I hope you draw united later on and fucking smash them home and away.<br /><br />-- Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:36 pm --<br /><br />

Leverkusen once again go and get a great result. I say it every week, but they are doing unbelievably well considering the quality of personnel. 6 points clear of Dortmund and now through to the last 16. Did not watch the game so can not comment more than that.

Bayern were sloppy today, but I think it's more worrying about the way Guardiola set up the team. He played a midfield 3 of Kroos, Thiago and Goetze. A lack of steel and defensive ability in midfield. Then he pushed Lahm and Alaba too far up leaving the defence exposed. The same thing happened against City in the friendly, Dortmund, Chelsea and again today. They were lucky they played a weak Dortmund in the league or else the same thing could have happened again. Lahm due to lack of playing team at right back looked poor today. Thiago was invisible for the entire game and should have come off. Gotze was not very good either.

I don't see Bayern beating Madrid and if they play City I would have them as favourites. Chelsea and Barcelona have a good chance as well.

One defeat in god knows how many games is not the end of the world, we had to lose sooner or later, everybody does. Congratulations to City of course but we are no worse this morning than we were last week, sh#t happens you know that as well as we do.
Nobody wants to lose any game but if we had to I'd rather lose a game where we have already qualified than lose in the league or get knocked out of a cup.
Funnily enough Pep said in yesterday's Bild "If we play like we trained today (Monday) we will lose". If we have one failing that needs looking at it is losing concentration when the work seems to have been done, the arsenal home leg last season is a case in point.
I would certainly not be hitting the panic button if we draw Barcelona, Madrid or City again later in the competition. They are all good sides but we are capable of beating anyone, a lot would depend on both sides form on the day.

Fair enough for posting after a defeat. Kudos for that.

Understand we are cockahoop because we don't get to play in matches like that often never mind winning one.

God I hope you draw united later on and fucking smash them home and away.

 

[Maldeika]

@Supercrystal

You are right. We are discussing the same in the Bayern forum. But - Martinez still is not fully fit and Schweinsteiger is out. That Thiago, Kroos, Götze midfield works when everybody is concentrating - and it is great for the offense - but in the big matches Schweinsteiger and Martinez should play with whoever of the three. Yesterday everybody thought the the job was done and it was too easy in the first part of the match - and then the slobbyness started - from front to behind. And then this youth triangle in the middle is not the right thing. Bayern is very stable - especially the defense - but all of this needs work, energy and concentration. Maybe Dante and Boateng were the ones whose mistakes were fatal at the end - but they were not the only ones. The easy ball losses started in the front. Everything was too easy lately - somehow everybody probably thought that it comes now with no effort. And - it is short before X-mas and the break, there have been a lot of matches and because of the injuries some had to make a lot matchtime - and the highlight of this half of the season is next week Saturday.

That Arsenal match last year came exactly at the right time. Maybe that would have been different if the first match would have been at home and not away as at home everything usually runs smoother. Away they still are more cautious.

They will not play like this against in the big matches. Last year I was more afraid than I was this year. Somehow this team has its occasional blips but not in that matches...

 

[supercrystal7]

@Supercrystal

You are right. We are discussing the same in the Bayern forum. But - Martinez still is not fully fit and Schweinsteiger is out. That Thiago, Kroos, Götze midfield works when everybody is concentrating - and it is great for the offense - but in the big matches Schweinsteiger and Martinez should play with whoever of the three. Yesterday everybody thought the the job was done and it was too easy in the first part of the match - and then the slobbyness started - from front to behind. And then this youth triangle in the middle is not the right thing. Bayern is very stable - especially the defense - but all of this needs work, energy and concentration. Maybe Dante and Boateng were the ones whose mistakes were fatal at the end - but they were not the only ones. The easy ball losses started in the front. Everything was too easy lately - somehow everybody probably thought that it comes now with no effort. And - it is short before X-mas and the break, there have been a lot of matches and because of the injuries some had to make a lot matchtime - and the highlight of this half of the season is next week Saturday.

That Arsenal match last year came exactly at the right time. Maybe that would have been different if the first match would have been at home and not away as at home everything usually runs smoother. Away they still are more cautious.

They will not play like this against in the big matches. Last year I was more afraid than I was this year. Somehow this team has its occasional blips but not in that matches...

I guess it comes down to how much you trust Guardiola. I saw what he did at Barcelona. At first it was incredible the way he motivated the team and had them pressing, but bit by bit he continued to make crazy decisions like playing Mascherano at right back, alienating Zlatan and then Villa. Switching away from the Flase 9. I think the influence of Cruyff stopped him from making the changes at Barca immediately, but once he had success he changed things quickly and it was not for the better. At Bayern he comes in with his great success and nobody is going to question him. The baffling choices have already started.

 

[BayernMan]

@Supercrystal

You are right. We are discussing the same in the Bayern forum. But - Martinez still is not fully fit and Schweinsteiger is out. That Thiago, Kroos, Götze midfield works when everybody is concentrating - and it is great for the offense - but in the big matches Schweinsteiger and Martinez should play with whoever of the three. Yesterday everybody thought the the job was done and it was too easy in the first part of the match - and then the slobbyness started - from front to behind. And then this youth triangle in the middle is not the right thing. Bayern is very stable - especially the defense - but all of this needs work, energy and concentration. Maybe Dante and Boateng were the ones whose mistakes were fatal at the end - but they were not the only ones. The easy ball losses started in the front. Everything was too easy lately - somehow everybody probably thought that it comes now with no effort. And - it is short before X-mas and the break, there have been a lot of matches and because of the injuries some had to make a lot matchtime - and the highlight of this half of the season is next week Saturday.

That Arsenal match last year came exactly at the right time. Maybe that would have been different if the first match would have been at home and not away as at home everything usually runs smoother. Away they still are more cautious.

They will not play like this against in the big matches. Last year I was more afraid than I was this year. Somehow this team has its occasional blips but not in that matches...

I guess it comes down to how much you trust Guardiola. I saw what he did at Barcelona. At first it was incredible the way he motivated the team and had them pressing, but bit by bit he continued to make crazy decisions like playing Mascherano at right back, alienating Zlatan and then Villa. Switching away from the Flase 9. I think the influence of Cruyff stopped him from making the changes at Barca immediately, but once he had success he changed things quickly and it was not for the better. At Bayern he comes in with his great success and nobody is going to question him. The baffling choices have already started.

To be honest Pep can do what he wants on the pitch as long as he continues to yield good results like winning the UCL but the baffling choices that hurt him at Barca were those transfer decisions which i dont see happening at Bayern.